Considerable engineering experience has been derived from the work of
federal agencies in development of the largest taut-moored instrumented
buoy system ever deployed in the deep ocean. Developed by Ocean Science
81 Engineering, Inc., it is useful in observation and prediction of
environmental changes.
The system embodies substantial advances in design. It incorporates,
among other features, an acoustically commanded underwater winch for
adjustment of the mooring depth after the buoy is deployed, and for
recovering a 16,000-pound submerged data-recording instrument canister.
This buoy system can survive being moored in up to 18,000-foot depths of
the open ocean for upward of 30 days.
The very first deep-ocean, taut-moored buoy system was developed for the
government in 1954, and has since become an important tool for
oceanographers and others who seek stable instrument platforms at sea.
The buoys have the advantage of minimizing horizontal movement due to
currents, winds, and waves.
The National Marine Consultants Division of Interstate Electronics
Corporation has developed for the government a system for measuring the
propagation of seismic sea waves (tsunamis).
Work of these sorts contributes materially to reliable ocean
engineering. And the measurements made by these sophisticated
instruments contribute to our knowledge of ocean fluid dynamics and wave
mechanics.
Corrosion is a huge, ever-present problem plaguing oceanographic
engineers, ship designers, mariners, operators of desalination plants,
petroleum companies with offshore facilities, and, in fact, everyone who
places structures in salt water to do useful work. While the basic
mechanisms of corrosion are known, there are many detailed aspects that
are not: For example, the precise role of bacteriological slimes in
causing corrosion on supposedly protected structures. Radioisotope
tracers now are helping engineers follow the chemical, physical, and
biological actions in corrosion processes.